‘Godzilla 2’ Gets an Official Title as ‘Pacific Rim 2’ Undergoes Name Change

Casually tucked into an official press release to announce the hiring of three new production executives at Legendary, you will find two interesting pieces of info: First is the official title for Godzilla 2, the follow-up to Gareth Edwards’ 2014 monster blockbuster, and second is the title for Pacific Rim 2 — which already had a title, but has apparently been given a much better one.

The press release doesn’t make a big deal of these titles (it doesn’t make a deal of them at all, really), but there they are, buried in this paragraph regarding the hiring of Herbert W. Gains as EVP of Physical Production:

Best known for his work as Executive Producer on such films as Warner Bros’ The Judge and Watchmen, as well as the recently released Jack Reacher: Never Go Back from Paramount, Gains’ responsibilities will include overseeing production of Legendary’s feature film slate including such highly anticipated projects as Pacific Rim: Uprising, Pokemon’s Detective Pikachu and Godzilla: King of Monsters. Gains will also work closely with the post-production team insuring that the filmmaker’s vision remains intact through production to final distribution.

Pacific Rim: Maelstrom has been upgraded to Pacific Rim: Uprising, while the Godzilla sequel is officially titled Godzilla: King of Monsters — a nickname he might lose in Legendary’s blockbuster crossover Godzilla vs. King Kong, scheduled to arrive in 2020.

Krampus filmmaker Michael Dougherty is scripting the Godzilla sequel and, as we previously reported, is also in talks to replace director Gareth Edwards — a move that makes sense as Legendary is a big fan of Dougherty, whose modestly-budgeted holiday horror flick did pretty well at the box office. (The studio has yet to confirm Dougherty as the director of Godzilla: King of Monsters.)

As for Pacific Rim: Uprising, the sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s robots vs. Kaiju blockbuster recently kicked off production with Star Wars favorite John Boyega headlining opposite Scott Eastwood. None of the original cast members have been confirmed to return for the sequel, which is being helmed by former Daredevil showrunner Steven S. DeKnight.

That film is set to hit theaters on February 23, 2018. Godzilla: King of Monsters will arrive on March 22, 2019.